Turkije bindt in op vrijheid van meningsuiting maar niet op het onderwerp van de Armeense genocide (en)

In a move to curry favour with the EU, Turkey has said it will quickly change a notorious article of its penal code curbing free speech - but at the same time, Ankara has put its ties with France under further strain by suspending military cooperation following a dispute over the Armenian genocide.

Turkish officials on Wednesday (15 November) announced they will work towards amending the notorious article 301 of the penal code which penalises insulting "Turkishness" before EU leaders meet for a 14-15 December summit meeting, which is set to be dominated by a debate on the fate of Ankara's embattled EU accession process.

Newswires cite Turkish officials as saying the country's ruling AKP party hopes to have a parliamentary vote on the issue "in the first week of December," just ahead of the EU leaders' meeting.

Revision of article 301 is seen as a symbolically important move, with a critical European Commission report on Turkey's accession process earlier this month highlighting the article as contributing to a "climate of self-censorship in the country."

The article has been used to bring charges against various intellectuals or journalists including Nobel Prize winner Orham Pamuk, with important parts of Turkish civil society also eager to get rid of it.

But while the announced concession on free speech could take some of the criticism on Turkey away at the December summit, one important EU player - France - on Wednesday saw its tense relations with Ankara further deteriorate as a Turkish general announced that military ties with Paris will be suspended.

"Relations with France in the military field have been suspended,'' general Ilker Basbug said according to press reports, adding the move is a protest against pending French legislation which would penalise the denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

The new French bill, adopted by the French National Assembly but still waiting for approval from the Senate, makes it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide by the Ottoman Turks, with Ankara describing the bill immediately after adoption in October as a "severe blow" to French-Turkish relations.

Ankara denies that the mass killings of Armenians during World War I constituted a genocide.

The row is escalating just as Paris is defining its position on whether or not to suspend Turkey's EU accession talks over the Cyprus issue, with Brussels and EU capitals pressing Ankara to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus before the December summit.

Ankara's continuing failure to open up to shipping from Cyprus - and EU member which Ankara does not recognise - could jeopardise the accession negotiations, with member states currently debating whether the talks should be fully or partially frozen.

Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday that his country is not ready to compromise over the issue, stating "We won't bow to blackmail, in the same way that we did not bow to blackmail in the past."

The Finnish EU presidency is currently engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to save the Turkey talks, proposing in a trade-off plan that the EU lift the isolation of Turkish Cypriots in the North of the island in return for Turkey allowing trade from Cyprus.